Wardrobe and cooperating hanger bar

ABSTRACT

Wardrobe in the form of a corrugated box container having at least one garment hanger extending across the side walls of the container and having a top flap hinged to a third one of the side walls and having overlapping flaps folded downwardly of the top wall of the container to retain garment hangers to a garment hanger bar. The garment hanger bar is in the form of an inverted V-shaped downwardly opening bar member supported at its ends by inverted U-shaped supports engageable with opposite walls of the garment container, supporting the bar to suspend the garments in the container. The bar member has a base, with legs extending downwardly from opposite sides of the base with pairs of parallel-spaced separator receptacles in the form of nibs pressed upwardly from the base, and forming separator slots for the garment hangers and garments hung therefrom.

United States Patent Brennan [451 Sept. 2, 1975 1 WARDROBE AND COOPERATING HANGER BAR [76] Inventor: Francis P. Brennan, 1057 Rolling Related US. Application Data [62] Division of Ser. No. 235,560, March 17, 1972,

abandoned.

[52] US. Cl. 206/289; 206/291; 206/298; 211/124; 223/85 [51] Int. Cl B65d 85/18 [58] Field of Search 211/123, 124; 223/85, 87, 223/92, 95; 206/279, 280, 285, 289, 290,

3,613,898 10/1971 Brennan 211/124 Primary Examiner-William 1. Price Assistant Examiner-Bruce H. Bernstein Attorney, Agent, or F irm-Hill, Gross, Simpson, Van Santen, Steadman, Chiara & Simpson 1 ABSIRACT Wardrobe in the form of a corrugated box container having at least one garment hanger extending across the side walls of the container and having a top flap hinged to a third one of the side walls and having overlapping flaps folded downwardly of the top wall of the container to retain garment hangers to a garment hanger bar. The garment hanger bar is in the form of an inverted V-shaped downwardly opening bar member supported at its ends by inverted U-shaped supports engageable with opposite walls of the garment container, supporting the bar to suspend the garments in the container. The bar member has a base, with legs extending downwardly from opposite sides of the base with pairs of parallel-spaced separator receptacles in the form of nibs pressed upwardly from the base, and forming separator slots for the garment hangers and garments hung therefrom.

1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures PATENTED SEF 2i975 WARDROBE AND COOPERATING HANGER BAR This is a division of application Ser. No. 235,560, filed Mar. 17, 1972 now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention Hanger bars for garments used with wardrobe containers in moving and shipping of the type found in Class 21 l.

PRIOR ART, SUMMARY AND ADVANTAGES OF THE INVENTION The prior art is exemplified in my prior U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,805,780; 3,306,465; 3,519,139; Y 3,613,898 and 3,270,865 in which are provisions for the hanger bars to hold the hangers and garments suspended therefrom in position on the hanger bar and to prevent inadvertent displacement of the garments and hangers during shipment.

The present wardrobe and hanger bar is an improvement on the prior art wardrobe and hanger bars in that pairs of nibs stamped from the web of the bar extend upwardly from the web and form separator receptacles for the hangers and thereby avoid the necessity of providing separate caps to hold the garments in a fixed position on the bar, or of welding or otherwise securing additional independent separators to the web of the bar, and materially simplify and reduce the weight of the bar and wardrobe and eliminate all separablepieces from the hanger bar, which may be subject to loss.

An advantage of the present invention is that the hanger bar for the wardrobe may be of a one-piece construction and retains the garment hangers and garments suspended from the hanger bar in the wardrobe in spaced relation during shipment of the wardrobe.

A further advantage of the invention is that with this construction of wardrobe and hanger bar the cross bar avoids the necessity of providing caps for the hanger bar or welding separate divider members to the cross bar. It is further enhanced with even greater effect with the first two enclosure flaps for the wardrobe overlapping along the full length of the bar. This adds to the confinement or clenching of the hangers placed within the separator slots. Though not meeting, the second pair of enclosure flaps on the container assist to rigidify and hold the first two overlapping flaps tightly down on top of the hangers, preventing their escape from the separator slots of the bar, as in my US. Pat. No. 3,270,865.

The present invention, therefore, provides a new and improved wardrobe and hanger bar construction in which the cross bar supporting and separating the garments from the side walls of the wardrobe is of a relatively lightweight construction and is arranged with a view toward retaining the garment hangers and garments to the bar in spaced relation with respect to each other, without displacement under adverse loading, unloading and transporting conditions.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, although variations and modifications may be effected without departing from the spirit and scope of the novel concepts of the disclosure.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a top plan view ofa garment hanger bar constructed in accordance with the principles of the present invention. 1 I

FIG. 2 is a view in side elevation of the garment hanger bar shown in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view taken substantially along line III-Ill of FIG. 1 and showing one end of the hanger bar supported on the wall of a container or carton; and

FIG. 4 is a transverse sectional view taken substantially along line IV-IVof FIG.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF INVENTION In the embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawing, I have shown a garment hanger bar 10, particularly adapted to be supported on the top portions of opposite parallel spaced walls of a garment container or carton of the type used in shipping wardrobes by garment manufacturers or other shippers. Hangers 11 are shown as suspended from the hanger. bar in spaced apart relation with respect to each other, as will herein after more clearly appear as this specification proceeds.

The hanger bar .10 includes a main channel 12 opening toward the ground, and having end channels 13 at opposite ends thereof and of a similar construction. The end channels 13 open toward the ground and fit over side walls '15 of the wardrobe container and support the main channel 12 to extend across the container in a manner well known to those skilled in the art. While the end channels are shown as separate pieces, they may be formed integrally with the hanger bar, if desired.

The garment hanger bar 10 thus may be of a one piece as well as a three piece construction, as shown. The main channel 12 may also be extensible to accommodate the hanger bar to various sizes of containers.

The wardrobe container includes the side walls 15, end walls 15:: connecting the side walls together, a bottom wall (not shown) and at least one flap which is hinged to the end wall and adapted to be folded down over the tops of the receptacles. The flap 15b is shown by broken lines and is spaced close enough to the tops of the receptacles to hold the hangers in the receptacles during transportation of the wardrobe. The flap 1512 may be overlapped by a flap (not shown) folded down wardly from the opposite wall and by flaps folded downwardly from the side walls (not shown) as is customary with containers of the class described, and not herein shown because no part of the present invention, except insofar as they complete the wardrobe container.

The main channel 12 of the hanger bar 10 is formed from sheet material of uniform gauge thickness to form a top web 16 generally flat in form and parallel legs 17 extending downwardly from said top web 16, and uniformly curving downwardly from said top web. Rein forcement beads 19 are pressed outwardly of the legs 17 and extend therealong for a greater portion of the length thereof to strengthen said main channel 12.

In order to separate the hangers l l and garments suspended therefrom, and to prevent the garments from sliding along the main channel 12 toward one end thereof or another, and to aid in retaining the hangers 11 to said main cross channel, a plurality of parallel spaced nibs 33 are pressed upwardly from the top of the web 16 to form separator receptacles to receive the hangers l l and retain the hangers to said main channel 12 and to cooperate with the overlapping flaps (not shown) of the corrugated container, when said flaps are closed down over the nips spaced along the hanger bar for its full length. It may be seen from FlGS. 3 and 4 that the nibs 33 extend above the top surface of the web 16 a substantially greater distance than the diameter of the wire of the hanger to retain the hanger in position on said cross bar during tilting and/or jolting of the container both while loading the container onto and unloading the container from a transporting vehicle. The separator receptacles formed by the nibs 33 will thus be equally spaced along the main channel 12 for the entire length thereof and may be spaced distances apart, sufficient to separate the hangers and garments suspended from said main channel, and retain the garments in separated relation with respect to each other during transportation, and to prevent wrinkling of the garments that would otherwise occur if the hangers were allowed to slide together along the main channel 12.

It may thus be seen that a simple and improved wardrobe and hanger bar has been provided, made from sheet metal in which the separator receptacles are pressed from the web of the main channel, using no additional parts or material, and thus form an integral part thereof, eliminating the need for caps to extend along the main channel as has previously been the practice, and effectively retaining the hangers to the channel in such separated relation with respect to each other as to prevent wrinkling of the garments suspended from the hangers or loss of the garments from the hangers.

l claim as my invention:

1. A wardrobe comprising a corrugated board garment container having a plurality of parallel side walls defining sides of said container, and a hanger bar for wire clothes hangers, said hanger bar being made of sheet metal and comprising a main downwardly opening channel, two end channels at opposite ends of said main channel adapted to receive the upper ends of two opposite ones of said side walls, said main channel consisting of a top web and parallel legs depending therefrom for the length thereof, said legs having reinforcing beads pressed outwardly therefrom and extending for substantially the length thereof, said top web having a plurality of pairs of equally spaced separator receptacles for receiving the wire hook portions of individual hangers, said pairs of receptacles comprising pairs of parallel spaced nibs pressed upwardly of said top web, the nibs of each pair of nibs being spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the diameter of the wire of the hangers, and extending upwardly of said top web a distance greater than the diameter of the wire of the garment hangers, and said pairs of nibs being spaced apart distances sufficient to carry a maximum number of garments on the hanger bar separated by amounts sufficient to prevent wrinkling of the garments during shipment, said container having a top flap hinged to a third one of said side walls and adapted to be folded downwardly over the tops of said receptacles and cooperate therewith and spaced close enough to said nibs to hold said hangers in position therein during transportation of the wardrobe. 

1. A wardrobe comprising a corrugated board garment container having a plurality of parallel side walls defining sides of said container, and a hanger bar for wire clothes hangers, said hanger bar being made of sheet metal and comprising a main downwardly opening channel, two end channels at opposite ends of said main channel adapted to receive the upper ends of two opposite ones of said side walls, said main channel consisting of a top web and parallel legs depending therefrom for the length thereof, said legs having reinforcing beads pressed outwardly therefrom and extending for substantially the length thereof, said top web having a plurality of pairs of equally spaced separator receptacles for receiving the wire hook portions of individual hangers, said pairs of receptacles comprising pairs of parallel spaced nibs pressed upwardly of said top web, the nibs of each pair of nibs being spaced apart a distance slightly greater than the diameter of the wire of the hangers, and extending upwardly of said top web a distance greater than the diameter of the wire of the garment hangers, and said pairs of nibs being spaced apart distances sufficient to carry a maximum number of garments on the hanger bar separated by amounts sufficient to prevent wrinkling of the garments during shipment, said container having a top flap hinged to a third one of said side walls and adapted to be folded downwardly over the tops of said receptacles and cooperate therewith and spaced close enough to said nibs to hold said hangers in position therein during transportation of the wardrobe. 